Yes. I watch some dreadful television.
What I mean by that is I watch reality television. It’s a bit nuts that I feel ashamed about this guilty pleasure, because isn’t Reality TV just a form of harmless entertainment?
As an actress sometime I like to watch a tv show where I’m not analyzing an actors work or scrutinizing their dialects. So Reality TV, for me, is true escapism at times. I don’t have to think about ‘work’.
I love The Great British Bake Off and yes, I even love The Real Housewives of Anywhere… And up until this season, I also enjoyed anything by The Bachelor Franchise (apart from that epic fail of a show where they also sang- I can’t even remember what is was called it was so unforgettable). Perhaps the fact that that show was such a failure is the reason that Chris Harrison and the producers of The Bachelor really went off the rails this season.
What do I mean by this?
Well, we are only a few episodes in to Matt James as The Bachelor, but there seems to be a running theme during his season. One that doesn’t involve everyone crying in the teasers or a handsome guy jumping a fence, instead the theme of this season is BULLYING.
As someone who is in the industry, I’m aware of how things work. Producers will tell you what to do and say. And if you are gunning for exposure to increase your chances of being an influencer, then you do whatever they ask of you.
I am also aware that we, the audience at home, do not see everything. There’s a lot of footage that gets left on the editing room floor.
So who’s at fault here? The hungry for instagram followers participants on the show? Or the people who are making the decision of what airs? Or, dare I say it, Casting? Who clearly moved anyone forward in the casting process if they agreed to do anything they were asked to when on the show.
I think all of them. Everyone who is associated with this show should be feeling pretty ashamed of how this season is playing out.
So far all I’ve seen is a bunch of nasty and vicious women. Attacking other women. Not in a playful way, but in what appears to be a pretty genuine and spiteful manner.
In one episode a contestant is struggling with the fact that she is away from her father who suffers from ALS. When she comes down to explain why she’s been absent from the other women, all of them attack her without giving her any chance to defend herself (unless that was edited out). NOT ONE. It’s many women against one.
It’s bullying.
And bullying is not ok. On or off the television.
In the next episode of The Bachelor, the women are forced to box each other in a ring. And they do. They attempt to beat the crap out of one another. They don’t go at it sheepishly or awkwardly or even in a way that’s normally funny to watch. Instead they actually physically try to hurt one another. They are smacking each other with such force, it’s uncomfortable to watch.
All I know is, if I was on a show and told to hit another human, I would tell them they could go f*** themselves. I know better than that. And that is NOT the behavior I endorse nor would I want to be seen partaking in.
Ok, so I’m a decade older than most of these women, but I’m still certain that twenty-something me would have said “I don’t want to do it, I would prefer to pack my suitcase and get in that limo now.”
And now there’s this additional ‘drama‘ during Matt James’s season. One girl spreads a rumour about another girl being an escort? What the actual F??? Even the housewives of any county never stoop that low. For the next several years at least, that poor girl will be known as the one who may or may not be a hooker. But hey-ho I guess she deserves that- right? She wanted to reach over one hundred thousand followers on TikTok anyway… That poor girl just like all the others and Mat James himself are on the show to become ‘instafamous’. They are not looking for love (which is the point of the show…) but they want to have so many fans that they never have to work a proper job. Instead they can get free spray tans and travel the world.
I believe people in television have a duty.
Presently, there is action being taken to make sure we aren’t portraying people of color in a certain way and it seems that everyone is realizing the importance of representation. This is amazing and how it should be. But what about the importance of showing how women should behave to one another? When did “Women are supposed to lift each other up not tear each other down” stop counting or being important? When did it become ok for women to destroy another women’s reputation over a man?! And I know for a fact that there are women who worked on The Bachelor. I mean supposedly Chris Harrison is a raging Christian… could have fooled me...
Netflix’s The Crown was met with a lot of bad press after its most recent season. It was a DRAMA! An actual scripted show that was carefully written and rehearsed. So why the hell is The Bachelor not under any scrutiny for this season? Especially as (to use my best Rupaul voice) category is REALITY TELEVISION.
If people think The Crown, a show where nobody knows anything of what happened behind closed doors apart from involved parties, is real. Then of course they are going to think The Bachelor is real. And young women, impressionable women, will be watching and they will think that bullying is ok. If you bully another person, you’ll be rewarded with pretty dresses and social likes. Or that it’s ok to go get a gun with their pocket money from Wal-mart and shoot their other classmates.
Sadly it’s not just The Bachelor Franchise that is capitalizing by airing bullying behavior. Did you see the recent season of The Real Housewives of Beverley Hills? Poor Denise Richards. And shame on Andy Cohen who loves nothing more than to sit stirring his cauldron. But he doesn’t care about the aftermath, it’s just money to him. Even the last season of Masterchef (fine I do watch a lot of Reality TV…) saw an ambush on one contestant by everyone else competing on the show.
Surely it’s time to put some guidelines for Reality TV in place?
How long will it be before someone goes on one of these shows, has their reputation destroyed on public television and then is driven to kill themselves?
The Bachelor Franchise should suffer some consequences and things need to change. What once was ninety minutes of escapism from real life has just become something uncomfortable and worrying to watch.
For anyone who buys into Bachelor Nation, I advise you to watch the show Unreal. It’s a drama, but scripted. And yet it is the exact same show. It will open your eyes.
And if you are so desperate to watch someone being bullied, then re-watch Harry Potter for crying out loud.
It is time to put an end to bullying and I firmly believe that everyone in the entertainment industry has some level of social responsibility.
Personally, I would prefer to create art that inspires good in people… in the meantime, I’ll just keep praying for change and the next generation.
Header photo by Hassan Ouajbir